Trump’s Complicit House

So we hear the news today that 18 Republican lawmakers formally nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. No, this is not a joke. It’s an amazing spectacle seeing members of the United States House of Representatives fall all over themselves trying to elevate Mr.Trump to such a lofty perch. Of course it’s not just this particular stunt. In recent weeks we’ve seen a concentrated effort from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee to circumvent the investigation into the Russia matter by declaring it over and done with. The watered down report basically said they couldn’t find any collusion by the Trump campaign and the Russians even though many questions remain unanswered. According to the ranking Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, the Republicans ignored many subpoena requests by the Democrats, requests Democrats insist was needed in order to rule in or rule out relevant evidence. It’s been pretty obvious from the beginning that this investigation was nothing but a sham, highlighted by that infamous ‘midnight run’ to the White House by Devin Nunes last year. Clearly, Nunes and his Republican cohorts on the committee didn’t have the stomach or the fortitude to conduct the investigation in a bi-partisan manner, instead bowing to Trump at every turn.

The Nobel Peace Prize stunt merely reinforces this narrative. While we all know that Trump has done everything possible to dismantle anything and everything President Obama did during his two terms, it’s not that much of a stretch to think that Mr. Trump would want a Nobel Prize just so he could upstage the former President, who received one early in his first term. But the real question is this: is it that outlandish to suggest he’s given his sycophants in the House marching orders to nominate him for the Nobel Prize? Clearly the actions of some House Republicans over the past several months indicates it’s entirely possible, and our democracy hangs in the balance.

Of course the real elephant in the room is the Special Counsel’s investigation. We’ve seen reports in recent days that Mr. Mueller and Mr. Trump’s lawyers are negotiating for a possible interview. We’ve also heard that were Trump not to agree to an interview, Mueller has floated the possibility of a subpoena from the Grand Jury, compelling him to testify. Yes, we’re now in dangerous territory. All signs point to a possible confrontation with Mueller. With the recent resignations of Trump’s lawyers coupled with the hiring of more combative ones like Rudy Giuliani, we could be in for a constitutional roller coaster ride. Not only are the complicit House Republicans doing everything they can to elevate Trump but are openly running interference for him by raising the prospect of impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

What we have is a President of the United States with his back against the wall. What we also have is a fairly large group of Republicans in the House of Representatives that are fully in his corner and willing to obstruct justice. It seems as though we’re going down the road toward a constitutional crisis because one political party values power and partisan politics over our democracy.